Mot alla odds
en studie om Kristina av Sverige ur ett genusperspektiv
Queen Kristina of Sweden (1626-1689) was in many ways an interesting, fascinating but also a very complicated woman, who has been studied widely by historians and other scholars throughout the years. However, there are few people who have considered the queens attitude towards the male norm which characterize Sweden, and most of Europe, during the seventeenth century.My purpose with this essay is therefore to apply the historian and gender expert Yvonne Hirdman´s theory about the gender system and the hierarchical order, where the male is the norm and representative of what is considered to be normal in the society, on literature regarding Queen Kristina of Sweden. The historical method of this essay will be historiography, as a result of the fact that my study is based on other historians and scholars research. Moreover, my intention is to include Kristina´s entire life in Sweden, from her birth as far as to her abdication from the Swedish throne and study this through the gender perspective introduced above. With this mentioned my essay therefore is named Against All Odds. A Study on Kristina of Sweden from a Gender Perspective. The fact that Kristina of Sweden has been widely described by researchers with different disciplines and in various ways during the years becomes clear throughout this essay. In my essay concerning the male norm and queen Kristina it appears that elements like her male upbringing was of vital importance in her reply to the male norm and also towards her act against other females. The historian Peter Englund has mentioned the fact that Kristina carried out some form of mind change of her sex, maybe to be able to uphold the position as queen of Sweden. Moreover, Kristina broke the male norm by becoming queen but otherwise she accepted and, to some extent, even encouraged this dominant norm.